Lynchings are a hot topic again on Capitol Hill, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Shontel Brown being among those signing Rep. Ayanna Pressley's letter demanding a federal investigation into the hanging deaths of 10 black people so far this year. They've already been investigated: nine were ruled suicides, and a suspect, a black man, has been arrested in the tenth case. As we reported on Monday, a black man was found hanging from a tree in Maryland on Sunday, making that the 11th hanging this year. On Monday, the medical examiner found the Maryland hanging to be a suicide as well, disappointing conspiracy theorists.
As Twitchy reported earlier on Tuesday, the Associated Press tried to keep the lynching narrative going in the case of the woman who was murdered by the father of one of her children:
The death of Tasia Fortune, a Black Mississippi woman found hanging from a tree on Aug. 3, has stirred distressing memories of the grim history of lynchings across the U.S. South. pic.twitter.com/sCmPZt6C8K
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 21, 2026
As this editor often advises, always check to see if headlines end with "experts say," "the family's attorney says," or "critics say." As our own Grateful Calvin reported last week, The Washington Post reported that, "according to social media users," an ad for Converse sneakers "looks an awful lot like a Ku Klux Klan member’s pointed hood foregrounded by the dangling feet of a lynching victim."
End Wokeness has compiled a list of media outlets that picked up on the Klan hood "controversy":
National media outrage over a sneaker ad vs over a black mob beating white girls: pic.twitter.com/twGqJjNQ58
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) September 22, 2026
Four days after The Washington Post got the outrage machine running, CBS News is adding more fuel by reporting that "critics" are speculating that the lynching imagery was purposeful to draw attention by sparking outrage.
Sneaker company Converse has pulled an ad that was criticized for evoking racist imagery.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 22, 2026
Marketing experts and social justice advocates panned the ad as culturally insensitive, with some critics speculating that the spot may have been intentionally crafted to draw attention by… pic.twitter.com/2Ubs9JXuEO
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Don't feed the trolls, CBS News. So, the critic is Color of Change. Thanks, CBS News, for reaching out and letting them spin this non-controversy even further.
“Marketing experts and social justice advocates.”
— Nick Freitas (@NickJFreitas) September 22, 2026
You mean professional race grifters.
There. Fixed it.
And CBS furthers the discontent and discourse by giving it a platform…gross.
— Shar N. (@SharLaLa21) September 22, 2026
If only converse were that based
— TheCopeBrigade (@TheCopeBrigade) September 22, 2026
But no, it wasn’t racist by any metric.
That is a cropped and doctored image to give the illusion it was about something else. You people have no soul
— Hunting Lucidity (@MPBottig) September 22, 2026
The reporter even says that the model is holding the sneakers by the laces, while the cropped photo of the model not holding the sneakers by the laces appears right next to her.
Everything is racist to racists. You will only find what you seek.
— Dennis Peterson (@Dpete9Peterson) September 22, 2026
It was a shadow on a dress. Nothing more you psychos. Stop pandering to the professional outrage and victim cloud mob
— Muad’Dib (@paulatreides99) September 22, 2026
@CBSNews The only “outrage” came from the weak minded left, who see racism and hate in everything they dislike.
— Neto 🇺🇸 (@erntopia) September 22, 2026
Nowhere in CBS's video post did they show the entire context of that advertisement. They only showed a cropped image, without revealing a very important truth.
— TheUnsaid (@TheUnsaid11) September 22, 2026
Intentional selective information bias. Therefore CBS is manipulative propaganda.https://t.co/Jby43sUdbK pic.twitter.com/kDUJ2S5tqb
If you thought the ad was racist, you need serious psychiatric help.
— Tacitus Kilgore (@tdeesplease) September 22, 2026
CBS News is propaganda. Why use the dishonestly cropped image? Add this to the mischaracterizing of the Black women murdered by her Black boyfriend, and CBS is trying stir up a race war.
— Ralph Carpenter (@RalphWCarpenter) September 22, 2026
The nation isn’t going to be held hostage by these professional victims. This ad held no ill intent.
— It’s a Republic (@StoneEcho_) September 22, 2026
Race hustlers saw that. Normal folks didn't see their hallucinations. We saw a beautiful young lady in a pair of athletic shoes.
— PinkPlumeria (@PinkPlumeriaFL) September 22, 2026
Wish I had the time to find stuff to be outraged about nonstop
— johnnyxmasguy (@johnnyxmasguy) September 22, 2026
I didn't realize that South Korean K-Pop artists were so steeped in American Democrat culture that they would purposefully create such an advertisement.
— Amy (@my2pinks) September 22, 2026
Or…maybe you’re rage baiting and race baiting? “Critics wonder” seems to now be a smoking gun for evidence.
— Tom’s Takes (@TomBarnes1212) September 22, 2026
It's absolutely irresponsible of CBS News to float this conspiracy theory that was probably sent to them by Color of Change in a press release. This video is the rage bait.
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